Arlington man reportedly said he killed his friend

An Arlington man was arrested on suspicion of murder Saturday in connection with the death of a friend, Whatcom County sheriff’s officials said.

“We found the crime scene and found the victim, who had been brutally murdered with an edged weapon of some kind,” Whatcom Sheriff Bill Elfo said.

Alexander Vanags, 29, of Arlington called 9-1-1 in Snohomish County at 2:28 a.m. April 13 to say that he had killed his friend near Baker Lake, Elfo said.

Vanags, who called 9-1-1 from a gas station, was arrested and booked into Whatcom County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder. Arlington police, Snohomish County deputies and Stillaguamish tribal police helped locate and arrest Vanags.

Skagit County deputies assisted Whatcom deputies in searching a remote area of the Mount Baker Wilderness.

“We found the victim in a rural or wilderness campsite in the area of Baker Lake,” Elfo told The Bellingham Herald.

Baker Lake is in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, about 10 miles north of Concrete.

The sheriff did not identify the victim.